Earlier patents concerning magazines or container for spherical projectiles include U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,109,252; 7,222,617; 7,357,130; and 8,402,958. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,109,252 issued to Stevens in 2000 and entitled “Projectile Feed System” purports to disclose an apparatus 2 having a casing 4 for storing and feeding paint balls 42 to a paint ball gun 72. Paint balls 42 are received in pockets 40 around the periphery of a carrier 20. Rotation by a motor 10 of the carrier 20 moves the paint balls 42 into contact with a stationary guide bar 26 and a squash plate 30 to move the paint balls 42 from the pockets 40 and into an outlet 8 of the apparatus. A stationary guide disc 22 is mounted above the carrier 20, the guide disc 22 having a plurality of guide recesses 50 which are aligned above the pockets 40 to cause the paintballs to move from the recesses to the pockets.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,222,617 issued in 2007 to Andresen and entitled “Device For Storing Projectile Balls And Feeding Them Into The Projectile Chamber Of A Hand Gun” purports to disclose a container 3 for paintballs 14 that are feed to a user with a gun. At the bottom of the container is a feeder 8 having peripheral chambers 11 for receiving the paintballs 14 and directing them to a discharge canal 9 that connects to the gun. A motor and a slip clutch 17, 18, 19 provide just enough pressure to move the paintballs without causing the paintballs to rupture.
A year later U.S. Pat. No. 7,357,130 issued to Broersma with the title “Spring-Assisted Paintball Loader.” The Broersma patent purports to disclose a paddle wheel spool 5 consisting of a paddle 9 projecting radially in the middle of a circular well 4 located in the lowest region of a projectile magazine 3. The paddle is always pushing against a row of paintballs 2, and an intake 6 for a duct 7 leads to a gun. Spinning of the spool 5 is momentarily driven by an electrical motor 11 and includes springs 20, 21 that remains under tension when the motor is de-energized, the springs used for applying enough pressure through the paddle 9 against a row of paintballs, as shown in FIG. 1. Instead of the spool and paddles, a spiral spring 27 with arms 30, 31 may be substituted.
U.S. Pat. No. 8,402,958 issued to Victor and others in 2013 and entitled “Toy Dart Magazine Apparatus” purports to disclose a toy dart magazine 10 for foam darts including a drum portion 20 and a mounted clip portion 26. Within the drum portion are peripheral rim portions 110, 112 having recesses 30, 32 for carrying the darts. There is also a constant force spring 40 and a flexible arm 44 that together extend into the clip portion and also around the drum portions to keep a generally constant biasing force on the darts as the darts are loaded into an empty clip portion 26 and then into an empty drum portion 20 as shown in FIGS. 13-16, resulting in a fully loaded magazine (both clip and drum portions) shown in FIG. 8. The dart magazine is inserted into a toy launcher, and as the launcher is fired, the constant force spring and the flexible arm move the loaded darts through the drum portion and into the clip portion to feed the launcher.